STATIC REVENGER

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RANK	SCORE ?	GENRE	LOCATION
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• Sutil Records

Reflecting upon his days as the musical director for pioneering Detroit Techno act Inner City (Big Fun, Good Life) in the late '80s, Dennis White remembers a time before the anonymity of laptop-generated shows and faceless DJ gigs. "We'd go on the road with a full band, with every part you heard on the records actually being played by someone. We didn't even use sequencers," he laughs. "It was financially challenging to pull off, but it was real. It would be great to see more of that in electronic music today, that commitment to live presentation."

Having grown up a stone's throw away from Detroit, White's childhood was spent in a Musically diverse environment, where he was turned on to a panoramic range of sounds. Classic rock (Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd), British and West Coast synth pop (Berlin, Cabaret Voltaire), Funk (George Clinton, early Prince) and the earliest strains of Detroit Techno all came together on Detroit's famed nighttime radio shows of the '80s. Signing his first production deal with Kevin Saunderson's renowned KMS Records in 1988 fresh from graduating Boston's Berklee College of Music, White went from Inner City's musical director to the head of his own dance-directed rock band, Charm Farm, Detroit's answer to Primal Scream. It was in 1995 when he wrote and produced Charm Farm's disco Armageddon dance hit "Superstar," complete with remixes from Detroit notables like Carl Craig and Kenny Larkin.

1998 saw White's transformation into the Static Revenger, a directionthat eventually found him remixing #1 Billboard hits including Madonna's "What it Feels Like For a Girl," alongside friend/collaborator Richard "Humpty" Vission. But as a remixer, it was landing the opportunity to rework Felix da Housecat's club smash "Silver Screen (Shower Scene)" that he feels the closest kinship. "Back in the early '80s, I was into bands like New Order and Depeche Mode, so I can totally relate to his sound," White enthuses. "To do the remix, I went home to Detroit and unearthed the first keyboard I ever bought - a non-programmable Juno 6 - to do the session. It brought it all back full circle to my roots."

In 2001 Static Revenger ignited DJ charts and dance floors all over the world with his peak time house epic "Happy People," a record that was supported early on by top Heads like Pete Tong, Fatboy Slim, X-press 2, and Roger Sanchez, and entered the British Club Charts at #1.

It's tempting to assume that White is another beat-crazy gear head making good in the club scene, but there's more to the persona than meets the eye. When fronting Charm Farm in the mid-'90s, he'd often invite none less than the then up and coming Kid Rock onstage to jam. "Kid Rock would get up there and no matter where we were or what the situation, he'd light the joint up and blow me off the stage! It got me re-thinkin' that front man shit!" Static Revenger continues to kick out the hits, producing the floor-filler "Long Time", a cheeky dance version of a huge '70s FM radio staple (can you name that tune, youngster?) and the soon to be released "So High", while travelling and continuing work on his full length album.

Having already shared the stage and DJ booth with a veritable Who's Who of the global dance cognoscenti (including Fatboy Slim, Moby, Chemical Brothers, Basement Jaxx and Paul Oakenfold), Static Revenger's future looks imminently bright, as he holds history in one hand and the future in the other.